Comments regarding Larry's Orchids

Posted on June 29, 2015, updated July 21, 2015
I purchased a bird of paradise, a dwarf pomegranate, and a brugmansia from Larry's this spring. The pomegranate and brug came to me full of aphids. I called and sent photos. They issued me a refund for those 2 plants (but not shipping cost), and let me keep the plants to nurse them back to health. They were nice during the refund process, but it would not have been necessary if they would have sent pest-free plants to begin with.

I ordered a couple of orchids and a coffee and one of the orchids came completly dead the other one was so bad it didnt live. So i contacted larrys orchids and i wanted ii talk to larry but was told he was not available and i could talk to mike. So as im talking to mike he says theirs not much he can do untill larry gets back the next day. The next day im told to hold and i will be transfered to larry. This is the same "Mike" from the day before??? I asked why he said he was mike the day before and he got an attitude with me. Then iii tell him about my plants and he is very disrespectful and offensive telling me its my fault when the plants died in shipping. Do not deal with this company ill even though they do have good prices i will go somewhere else that has higher prices.

Very unpleasant. When I ordered online I got a prompt acknowledgement and was told I would be notified when my order was pulled and when it was shipped, including tracking numbers. This didn't happen, and I emailed to find out why. I was told the package was already shipped and should arrive Wednesday at the latest. And the lady who replied was extremely nice. In fact, she even gave me a twenty dollar credit because I commented that they were not clear when the sale ended, and I missed the sale price because of it. But when I emailed to say the package had not arrived there was no reply, and a second request for tracking numbers was not answered either. Finally, late on the day after the package was to arrive I said I was no longer able to wait, and after I left for work my husband got a call from Larry telling him to refuse the shipment, which he did. I was to call Larry as soon as possible, which I did the next morning. He was offensive and patronizing, and said the plants were already dead from the cold, and that the emails were sent but Gmail was unreliable and probably got filtered out. He said that was not uncommon, and that I would get a refund when the package came back but that I would not be allowed to reorder unless I changed my server. After the call I checked and there was no email. In the end Larry emailed to say any future orders would be refused. I would never have ordered from him again anyway, even though his prices seem good and the plants were exactly what I wanted. The whole exchange was bruising and unpleasant, and not at all what I wanted from a very rare Christmas shopping spree. I suggest if you question this you read the return customer service comments for attitude, because that was exactly what I encountered.

Yesterday I received the dwarf patio Calamondin orange citrus tree I ordered from Larry's Orchids. Although it was well packaged and I received it on time, the size of the plant was incredible. I realize it is a dwarf, but I did not expect to receive a 6" micro-mini plant. They claim it was the right size for the price. I did not expect to have to look for a magnifying glass to see what I got.

When they advertise on Amazon, they should also indicate the plant's size they plan to send for $13.95 +$8.50 shipping cost. Last summer I purchased a 22" Improved Meyer Lemon for $14.95 in a local Seattle store. See the difference? I will NEVER EVER again purchase anything from this company,

Posted on June 30, 2012, updated June 30, 2012
Posted on June 30, 2012, updated June 30, 2012
Posted on June 30, 2012, updated June 30, 2012
Posted on June 30, 2012, updated June 30, 2012
Ordered thee citrus itmes from them through Amazon. When I contacted the post office after it was over a week in transit they told me it was sent parcel post (what amounts to "stand by".

I sent them this note:
It's truly hard for me to believe you shipped my live plants by USPS stand by. $14 shipping appears to have been stuffed in your pocket. I guarentee you I will raise holy hell if the post office delivers dead plants. With 90 degree tems and the post office taking weeks to deliver, it's hard to imagine anyting else. DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN?

which got this reply:
We ship all orders via USPS Priority Mail. Obviously, the Post Office has misdirected your order, and most likely when your trees do arrive, they will be dead. We ship about 950 orders a week, and this happens about 5 times a month. Our usual policy for this occurrence is to reship a replacement order to the customer ASAP, upon notification of this happening. Customer Service is our top priority, and the customer should not be inconvienced due to a mistake by the Post Office.

But due to your tone, profane language and overall unprofessional correspondence, I am just canceling your order and having our Accounting Dept issue you a full refund on Monday instead. We maintain a professional relationship with our customers and we expect the same in return. Errors happen, and in this case the error was not our fault, but we would have cheerfully corrected it. Your use of vulgar language was juvenile behavior at best, and was totally uncalled for!

A courteously worded e-mail would have resulted in a totally different outcome to this situation. Dale, as they have said for generations, 'You get more flies with honey…..'

Respectfully yours;

Betty Abernathy
Customer Service Mgr
Larry's Orchids & Tropcials, Inc.

(exactly as I received it)

THESE PEOPLE ARE SCUM...RUN FROM THEM

"The saying goes that you can't please all the people all the time. We have no idea where this customer is claiming we STOLE his money for shipping, and sent his order via Parcel Post. Track for yourself on USPS: 9405510200883415157936 shows the box was misdirected to NJ (Post Office's Fault – it happens) AND that it was shipped via Priority Mail. Here is the abuse our Customer Service Department has endured (Mostly Betty, our Customer Service Mgr) from this customer: (the spelling and grammar errors are uncorrected as they are direct cut and paste from the buyer's e-mails to Amazon.com and ourselves)
Lawrence Smith
President & CEO
Larry's Orchids & Tropicals, Inc.

Received: Sat 6/30/2012 2:02PM:

as the paying customert, I am not required to kiss your ####, #### -
your are too stupid to be dealing with a customer service issue; you
have to be someone's relative.

Received: Sat 6/30/2012 1:19PM:

you DO need to find a brain (or maybe you shopuld pray foir one
tomorrow)you and your company needs to get out of Amazon-I caught you
lying about shipping; lying about pocketing the money and slandering
me - to justify stealing from me -YOU GOT CAUGHT - plain and simple.
And you don't even have the decency to apologise for your slander. As
for your favor, I have order my credit card to reverse your change. I
don't do buisiness with scum such as you.

Received: Sat 6/30/2012 10:52AM:

WAIT, YOU ARE A #### #### (NOW i'M BEING PROFANE)

On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Larry's Orchids & Tropicals wrote:

> I am a Christian woman who has taught Sunday School for 45 years of my 67
> years, and yes 'Raising Holy Hell' is profane in my world Sir, and insulting
> someone's intelligence about having a brain is highly rude and insensitive
> with knowing the facts first.
>
> Betty


Received: Sat 6/30/2012 10:47AM:

there was absolutly noithing profane about my note and you are insulting
#####



The rest of the e-mails are contained in the buyers e-mails.
Judge for yourself."